Posted on: Tuesday, June 25, 2002

EDITORIAL
Junked vehicles aren't just the city's kuleana

We've all seen the junked vehicles along certain stretches of O'ahu's coastal highways. But the city of Honolulu says they're being hauled away in a timely manner.

Either there are so many junked cars that one battered hunk moves in as soon as another is whisked away, or we're imagining things.

The Advertiser's North Shore reporter, Will Hoover, recently looked into the matter. Last Friday, Hoover counted 20 trashed clunkers along Kamehameha Highway between Hale'iwa and Kahuku.

When he called the city of Honolulu to inquire how they dealt with the vehicles, he discovered that the issue is complicated — a lot more than need be.

According to the city, there are "abandoned" vehicles, which have been discarded yet are operational; and "derelict" vehicles, those battered wrecks that have been picked apart by scavengers

Most of the time, abandoned vehicles have not in fact been abandoned, but have just been parked in one place for several days because the owner was sick or on vacation.

While abandoned vehicles are operational, derelict vehicles are pretty much stuck until someone hauls them to a wrecking yard.

Each case requires a release from the Honolulu Police Department, which checks if they are stolen vehicles or whether there's a valid reason why they haven't been moved.

The city has a contract with Abe's Auto Recyclers to tow away derelict cars, and had (past tense) a contract with Abe's to tow abandoned cars. The latter contract expired April 30, and no one has been hauling abandoned cars since then.

According to city spokeswoman Carol Costa, Abe's submitted a bid that was too high, and the city started looking "at other options." Starting today, the city has a short-term "emergency" contract with Abe's to pick up 90 abandoned vehicles.

But that doesn't explain the prevalence of derelict vehicles.

Costa says Abe's has done "an excellent job" of removing derelict vehicles. For example, the four cars photographed for Hoover's article that ran Sunday have been removed since they were caught on camera. Costa says that Abe's usually collects the cars on Fridays and Saturdays.

That's great. But if there are so many derelict cars, Abe's might want to think about doing a daily run.

Meanwhile, we all need to do our part to keep O'ahu free of junked vehicles. If you want to report a derelict vehicle or want to junk your own vehicle, call 733-2530 or 523-4381.